WaPo today tries to frame Chris Christie as a flip-flopper for changing his mind about Common Core.
In 2013 before the Common Core was implemented, Christie said:
We’re doing Common Core in New Jersey and we’re going to continue. And this is one of those areas where I’ve agreed more with the president than not, and with (Education) Secretary (Arne) Duncan. They haven’t been perfect on this but they’ve been better than a lot of folks have been in terms of the reform movement and I think that part of the Republican opposition that you see in some corners of Congress is a reaction, that knee-jerk reaction you see that’s happening in Washington right now, that if the president likes something, the Republicans in Congress don’t and if the Republicans in Congress like something, the president doesn’t. It is this mindset in D.C. right now that says we have to be at war constantly because to not be at war is to show weakness and to show weakness is to lead to failure and I just don’t buy that.
In Iowa on Feb. 9, Gov. Christie said he now has “grave concerns,” which WaPo describes as an election-year conversion.
But let’s be honest: it is not just presidential candidates like Jindal and Christie who have developed grave concerns about Common Core as it actually moves into the classrooms.
Erin Tuttle and Heather Crossin, two of the moms leading the national anti-Common Core movement, developed a Common Core aversion when they saw their second-graders math program gutted–in a private Catholic school–and were told by the principal there was nothing he could do because state tests required this kind of curriculum.
Just this week, a New York principal Carol Burris wrote a public letter explaining why she changed her mind after experiencing what the Common Core was doing to students in her school:
When we spoke, you asked me how I went from being a strong supporter of the Common Core to becoming a critic of the standards. It was a long process and I gave it a lot of thought. It is not easy for me to shift my opinion on matters of importance, but after months of deliberation, there came a point when my conscience demanded that I publicly express my misgivings.
Common Core was built on the sand of false talking points that few could object to: higher internationally accredited standards. But the reality of the federalization of education is that unaccountable bureaucrats control your children’s education and there is nothing you can do about it.
Kudos to Christie for rethinking when reality hit.
Maggie Gallagher is editor of ThePulse2016.com.
